A local human rights activist has called for the immediate suspension of Harare City Council alleging that more than US$200m in public funds may have been lost through what he describes as a deliberate “accounting blackout” and the manipulation of the city’s financial systems.
In a petition submitted to President Emmerson Mnangagwa, Professor Talent Rusere urged the government to dissolve the current municipal administration and appoint an interim commission to run the capital citing what he called “systemic financial sabotage”.
The allegations, which the council has not yet publicly responded to, centre on a controversial change in Harare’s accounting software in 2019 – a period Prof Rusere says created a huge gap in the city’s financial records.
According to the petition, Harare City Council terminated its contract with a financial management system known as BIQ in early 2019 officially citing licensing problems.
Rusere, however, claims the move was intended to conceal large-scale theft.
He alleges that between March and August that year the city operated without any functioning receipting system, meaning millions of dollars paid by residents in rates, water bills and other charges were never properly recorded.
“This six-month period represents a massive traceability gap. Taxes were paid, but there is no audit trail. That money has effectively vanished,” he said
The petition claims the missing funds could total as much as US$200m.
Harare later adopted a new system, known as Sage but Rusere alleges this too was compromised.
He says internal technical records show that the council was aware that certain “super users” of the system could disable audit servers, create or delete accounts and alter databases without detection.
These powers, he claims, were used under the guise of improving system performance but in reality allowed the manipulation of financial records.
One IT specialist, David Madzivanyika, is singled out in the petition as a key “super user”. Prof Rusere alleges thatMadzivanyika was implicated in the loss of more than US$4.5m but was briefly suspended and then quietly reinstated without any criminal investigation.
“This culture of catch and release demonstrates total institutionalised impunity,” the petition states.
The petition also accuses the city of betraying its own workforce.
Harare municipal workers are owed months in salary arrears, and a 2016–2017 agreement to compensate staff with residential stands in lieu of unpaid wages has not been honoured, Rusere says.
He has called for an investigation into the Municipal Workers Union of Zimbabwe (MWUZ) accusing it of being compromised and failing to defend its members while enjoying what he called “luxury travel” as workers sink into poverty.
The academic links the alleged financial abuses directly to Harare’s collapsing services.
The capital has for years struggled with chronic water shortages, pothole-ridden roads and blocked drainage systems that leave parts of the city flooded after heavy rain.
“The diversion of taxpayer funds has left a city in terminal decline,” Prof Rusere wrote, arguing that the council has failed in its constitutional duty to provide basic services
In his formal demands to the president, Prof Rusere called for the immediate suspension of the Harare City Council administration, a forensic audit into the 2019 accounting gap and the use of the Sage system and the enforcement of land-for-salary agreements and payment of outstanding wages to workers.
“The people of Zimbabwe deserve better than public thieves disguised as administrators,” he said.
